Artist Statement, in Four Acts

Act 1: I seek

(the discovery)

Deep meaning exists for me when people come together and create something purposeful and beautiful with their hands. I seek to find places and people that have a great need for this kind of collaboration, for in this space I can give those who need it a voice, and in this space my voice matters most. I seek those who think big and see a given set of variables as an opportunity to explore and invent. I seek out stories, for the power of narrative guides our lives.

Act 2: I absorb

(the exchange)

Who defines the identity of a place? Is it individual community members? Or is it something more amorphous - a collective voice? I am fascinated by the fluid relationship between the one and the many. For this reason, I engage directly with community members throughout all stages of my creative practice. For me, looking, listening, sharing, and collaborating are inseparable from the paint, the place, and the form.

Act 3: I create

(the transformation)

It is on the exterior wall of a building where public and private spaces collide. It is on our streets where shadows reveal intimate details. I collaboratively create mega scale public work where intricate and classical designs shed familiar and beautiful light on our contemporary surroundings. A painter at heart, I find depth in surface. I strive to render the pre-existing narrative of a place and its people in a dynamic and invigorating manner. In service of this goal, I tend toward multipart compositions, representational depiction, and narrative symbolism. Local color and aesthetics are always taken into account. My work is a synthesis of built and cultural landscapes, specific to each site.

Act 4: I share the story

(the inspiration)

My drive is to create work that will be made and viewed with others, work that will provide interventions in peoples’ daily lives. Though I seek to delight and inspire, most fundamentally, my works provide an opportunity for open-ended engagement. Each installation both simulates and stimulates its locale, prompting participants and viewers to connect with their past, present, and future surroundings.